A rare dolphin in China is likely to be extinct, according to a team of researchers.
They say the long-threatened Yangtze River dolphins, also known as baijis, were wiped out due to human activity.
The last confirmed sighting was in 2002, but an intensive six-week survey in late 2006 failed to find any evidence of its continued existence, according to Samuel Turvey, a conservation biologist, at the Zoological Society of London.
He said the death of the dolphin, which may have been caused by overfishing, pollution and lack of intervention, should encourage governments and scientists to act to save other species verging on extinction.
The team, which published its findings in the Journal of the Royal Society Biology Letters, included researchers from the US, Britain, Japan and China.
The dolphins will now be classified as critically endangered and possibly extinct - but the WWF campaign group has said the research is not conclusive, and that the last report of the dolphin was established in 2004.
"WWF does not think that the baiji dolphin can be declared extinct or 'effectively extinct' because the search was conducted within a short period of time over a limited area of the river," said a spokesman.
He added a species cannot be classed as extinct until no animal has been found in the wild for 50 years.
Are we doing enough to prevent endangered animals becoming extinct? Discuss
this topic on the boards now.
published on 08 August 2007
